Caged
by BasementKat
Summary: Total rewrite of my previous story "Fang's Story". Goes through Fang's childhood and time at the school before the books start.


Chapter 1- Birdboy

**AN: Hey so I saw this challenge on tumblr that said to find the first fanfic you've ever written, and rewrite it. SO, I found my old ff account and apparently 'Fang's Story' was the first thing I'd ever posted. I went back and reread it and, wow, it was terrible. However, it had so many awesome reviews (tell me pls how that happened) and so I decided to totally rewrite it. I haven't read the Maximum Ride books in Forever though, so if there are any mistakes, please let me know and I will fix them.**

**Thanks and enjoy! :)**

**_"_****_Gave me a number and took away my name_**

**_dying (dying) dying in the city of pain"_**

. . . Six years ago . . .

The thin woman's hands shook as she was given the small piece of paper. She barely glanced at it before slipping it carefully into her pocket. _All of that for this? She thought. Everything I have for this paper?_

"Mommy are you okay? Why are you crying?" A timid, quiet voice interrupted the woman's thoughts.

"Sara…" The woman mumbled, reaching down for her daughters hand. _That's right I still have Sara! That's why I'm going through this torture, it's all for Sara. _The woman smiled softly at the little girl and then glanced down at her youngest, a newborn with no name. She picked him up and caressed him gently. No, he wasn't her child anymore. He was Theirs. The people who had promised her a better life. The ones who would let her save Sara.

She had already signed the papers. She handed the child to the same person who had given her the check. She took one last lingering look at the slumbering baby and left.

Present Day

Numbers," Said Ms. Jenny, "Are very important for you to learn."

"Don' wanna." The boy whined and jerked when his zapper shocked him. He didn't say 'ow' though, because when you said 'ow' or cried they would shock you again. So instead he bit the inside of his cheek and frowned at the white-coat lady who looked quite mad.

"Beta, you know I do not allow this kind of behavior. Disobedience is unacceptable."

While the boy did not understand most of Ms. Jenny's big words, 'disobedience' was one he knew well. Disobedience was the same as not listening quietly, or not doing what you were told. Disobedience would cause his zapper to shock him. Disobedience was bad.

"Sorry." He said. Sorry made things better. He risked a quick glance up into Ms. Jenny's clear blue eyes. She didn't seem to be that mad anymore.

"Finish your worksheet." The white coated lady ordered and this time the boy picked up his pencil and attempted to make out the questions on the paper. Numbers were hard though, and in no time he was stuck again.

"I can't do it." He muttered, pulling his knees up into his chest and burying his head. Giving up would cause him to get zapped really hard, but he was just to tired to try anymore.

"I'm disappointed in you, Beta." Said Ms. Jenny. The boy heard the tiny click as she squeezed the controller to his zapper and he flinched, bracing himself for the pain. It came in waves, his whole body going ridged and his teeth cutting deep into his lip drawing blood. He couldn't help letting out a small whimper, as he curled tighter in. "I-I'm sorry! Stop please!" The zapper didn't shut off though, instead it almost seemed to get more painful. The boy could feel the tears rolling down his cheeks as his body was racked with spasm after spasm. "N-no, i'll w-ork…" The white coated lady took her finger of the controller but by then it was too late; the boy had already slumped foreword unconscious. Jenny frowned, picked up her clipboard, and made a quick few notes.

The boy woke up in his cage, body aching. He curled his fingers around the chilled bars and hauled himself up into a sitting position.

"- intelligence is weakening, i suggest-"

"No, there's nothing else we can-"

"-retire it?"

"-leave it alone-"

The boy could vaguely hear the hushed whispers of the white coat's across the room. He flinched when he saw Ms. Jenny looking furious- _no more pain, no more!- _before realizing that it wasn't him that she was mad at. It was the other white coat, a young man the boy had never seen before. Ms. Jenny was yelling at him and the boy wanted to tell the white coat man to run. To not let Ms. Jenny zap him like she'd zapped the boy. However, the young man just stared at Ms. Jenny and let her shout at him. Eventually the lady stopped screaming and stomped towards the door. She yanked it open and started to step out, but before she did, she turned to scowl at the boy. He quickly lowered his eyes and held out his wrists; the sign of submission. Ms. Jenny snorted, shook her head and shut the door behind her.

"Jesus." Said the new white coat. "She's a handful." He had stepped closer to the boy's cage and was getting out the stuff for feeding time. Good thing too, thought the boy, because his stomach was starting to make the funny growly sounds. He watched curiously as the man fumbled with the food and spilled a little bit when attempting to transfer it to the boy's feeding cup. He then passed it through the bar's of the cage and the boy grabbed it eagerly, lifting the cup to his dry lips and taking a nice long suck. The food was lumpy and kind of icky tasting but it got rid of the funny feeling in the boy's stomach so he liked it. When he was done, the white coat took it from him and handed him water instead.

"I'm Jeb."

The boy started. White coat's only talked to him during testings, never when he was in his cage. Yet there was no one else in the room for the white coat to be talking too and he was staring right at the boy.

The boy kept quiet, knowing his consequence for speaking when he wasn't supposed too.

"Do you have a name?"

"…"

The white coat; Jeb, didn't seemed perturbed by the boy's lack of answers and kept right on talking. "Your official name is BetaE2, but I was wondering if you call yourself something different?"

The boy frowned. Something different? Why would he call himself something different?

"No? That's alright. Alpha didn't either, until I helped."

"Alpha-?" The boy clamped his teeth down on his tongue, fearfully. He hadn't meant to talk, it just slipped out! Heart pounding wildly in his chest he scrambled back into his cage, protecting the front of his body with his big black wings. "Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean too!"

"Woah… calm down, kid." Jeb the white coat said, startled at the boy's reaction. "No need to be scared. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I talked!" The boy wailed, too busy shaking to notice that he was still speaking. "I'm not allowed!"

Jeb frowned. "I won't hurt for talking to me."

Slowly the boy lowered his wings and tremulously met Jeb's gaze. He was shocked to see that Jeb didn't look mad, didn't even have a controller in his hand like Ms. Jenny always did.

"You're- n-not gonna zap me?" The boy repeated.

"No."

"No…Why?"

Jeb appeared perplexed by this simple question. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "Because hurting is wrong."

"But I was disa'bedient."

"It was an accident." Jeb said kindly. "Besides, speaking is not something to be punished for."

"Ms. Jenny says being disa'bedient is bad and that I deserve zaps when I'm bad." The boy stressed, Jeb's words going right over his young head.

"Well," Said Jeb, "Do you want to be shocked?"

"NOO!" The boy yelled. "No no no no no!"

"Then screw what Jenny says."

The next morning was running. Running was always fun in the beginning, but then when he got tired, they wouldn't let him stop. The floor turned into one big zapper and would shock him whenever he slowed down.

Jeb accompanied him to the running room. Ms. Jenny, who normally fed the boy in the morning, was nowhere to be seen. This arrangement suited the boy just fine. Jeb hadn't zapped him once since he'd met him.

When the boy arrived at the running room, he noticed that it was full of more people than normal. Usually when he did running, it was just Ms. Jenny and one other old white coat man. Today, he counted six people in white coats, not including Jeb. Six and one made seven, the boy recalled, quite proud of himself for remembering his numbers.

"Why are there so many?" He asked quietly, so no one but Jeb would hear him.

"So many wha- oh, scientists?"

"White coats!"

Jeb smiled, "Sure, white coats. They're here to watch you and Alpha compete."

"What's Alpha?" The boy asked, remembering Jeb talking about it last night.

Jeb didn't' respond, but led the boy towards the group of white coats. "That's Alpha." He said finally, gesturing towards another person the boy hadn't even seen when he'd come in. They were standing in the middle of the white coats, long brown hair tied up behind their head. They were wearing a thin white dress and no shoes like the boy. From behind their back, sprouted a pair of speckled brown and white wings.

"Like me!" The boy exclaimed. The girl turned startled at the sound of his voice.

"Like me?" She echoed, and the boy spread his own dark wings.

"Yes!"

Slowly a smile grew on her face and he could see the small teeth nestled behind her pale lips. "I'm Max!"

"Max?" He muttered, confused.

"My name." Max grinned.

"Oh. I don't have one."

"That's alright. I didn't have one either, not until Jeb helped me pick it out."

"You know Jeb?" The boy frowned, feeling strangely jealous. Jeb was _his. _Not Max's.

"Yeah, he-"

"Alpha, Beta." Spoke one of the older white coats. "We will now commence the test. Please take your starting positions."

The boy had done running so much that he knew exactly where to go stand. However, he had never raced with another person before. Especially not one like him. Before today, he never even knew that anyone like him existed. He had been entirely alone in his winged world.

Max turned to give him a smile as the old white coat shouted 'Begin!'

And then the boy was off, streaking through the maze like a big black bullet. To his surprise, when he turned his head to see where Max was, she was right by his side, keeping up easily.

He forced his legs to go faster and almost ran straight into a dead end. He heard Max laugh and he scowled, twisting his body around and running in another direction. He would win this race, _he would. _

The boy sat heaving at the entrance to the maze. He and Max had been neck and neck the entire time, but Max had gotten to the end barely seconds before he did. She was sitting on his other side, sucking greedily on a water bottle.

After the boy had regained control of his breathing, Jeb took him to go practice numbers. However, the whole entire time he worked, he did not forget the way Max had smiled at him. He did not forget about the way it made his small heart flutter.

**Thanks for reading :) I had a lot of fun redoing this part!**


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